The process of applying to business school is scary, daunting, and exposing. It not only forces significant introspection, but it also demands promulgation of the findings. Then, once those findings have been packaged and delivered according to the requirements of the application package, there is a high likelihood of receiving at least one if not several rejection letters.
Even along the way, aspirants can come against obstacles that prove insurmountable. For example, a great number of my students target top-tier business schools where the average GMAT score is well above 700. These ambitious, intelligent, educated, and experienced individuals believe that they will be able to earn such a score with modest time and effort. Yet, what becomes clear to all who challenge the GMAT is that such scores are not nearly as easily obtained as once thought. In fact, some must face the harsh reality that hitting a 700+ score is not possible given what they can or will put into the struggle.
This realization can come directly and consciously, and the individual will be forced to re-establish perceptions of self-worth, ability, and goals. Or, of course, the realization can take a much more tangential path, which allows for some saving of face and pride though perhaps at the expense and benefit of lessons learned. Either way, the GMAT is one step along the course that can (and will) demand a deep look within. Then, invariably, a broadcast of the result to a range of people from our closest loved ones to complete strangers a world away must transpire.
It is very common for people to not only believe they can get accepted to their target institutions, but also that they deserve to be accepted. Further, they construct versions of the future that hinge on the success or failure of obtaining a degree from one of these schools. In the end, however, it might be true that perhaps their success has nothing to do with an MBA degree at all, from any institution, and the real failure is not asking the right questions of themselves in the first place.
A new book called “Springboard: Launching Your Personal Search for Success” written by G. Richard Shell, a professor of legal studies and business ethics and management at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, answers two questions the author has been posing to his MBA students for the last eight years: What does it mean to be successful? How does one achieve success? The author is profiled in a US News article, which paraphrases a fifteen minute recorded conversation with Mr. Shell.
While I have not read the book, it is sure to be an insightful exploration of success and how each of us might come to define and achieve it. Fortunately, lessons can certainly be gleaned from the very truncated ideas highlighted in the article and the conversation that the article came from:
-
Failure is part and parcel to success.
-
Fear and dissatisfaction can be very helpful emotions.
Understanding and communicating a truthful story to targeted b-schools is requisite for a meaningful, competitive application. It is also mandatory to acknowledge that rejection or some other type of failure-in-another-form can and likely will occur, perhaps at several points along the way. What separates many is the way these concepts and ideas can become drivers, and, further, how one responds to the actuality of them.
